Celebrate food, life and diversity. Join me in the search for the right ingredients: Food without human antibiotics, growth hormones and other harmful additives that have become commonplace in animals raised on factory farms.

Attention food shoppers

We are legions -- legions who are sorely neglected by the media, which prefer glorifying chefs. I love restaurants as much as anyone else, but feel that most are unresponsive to customers who want to know how the food they are eating was grown or raised.I hope my blog will be a valuable resource for helping you find the healthiest food in supermarkets, specialty stores and restaurants in northern New Jersey. In the past five years, I stopped eating meat, poultry, bread and pizza, and now focus on a heart-healthy diet of seafood, vegetables, fruit, whole-wheat pasta and brown rice. I'm happiest when I am eating. -- VICTOR E. SASSON

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Food photos from Woodbridge to the West Side of Manhattan

Lactose Free Milk at Wegmans Food Market is 10 cents more than at ShopRite.

Wegmans has one of the lowest prices on bananas, but doesn't beat Costco Wholesale.

At nearly 140,000 square feet, Wegmans in Woodbridge seems to go on and on.

Wegmans offers enough prepared food to feed an army.

Fresh, wild-caught fish fetch some of the highest prices around.

Wegmans Organic Chicken. Drumsticks are $2.99 a pound.

Canned vegetables are 49 cents each.

Premium blended orange juice is only $1.99 for a 64-ounce half-gallon.

Wegmans cheese, dried fruit and nuts would make a great dessert.

A Japanese family enjoying lunch at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater.

One of the stands in the food court of the Japanese supermarket.

Dishes offered at the Whole Foods Market in Manhattan's Time Warner Center.

At a Gourmet Garage near Lincoln Center, Chilean Sea Bass is $28.99 a pound.

Despite the price, Golden Pineapples sold out, but the sign stayed behind.

Gourmet Garage charges $4.99 for 5 ounces of Earthbound Farm Spring Mix. At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, customers get a 16-ounce package for the same price.

A new dish at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park is Vegetable Bibimbap served on a stone plate. Season to taste with Korean red-pepper paste or gochujang from a squeeze bottle.

Steam rising from the signature soft-tofu stew, which comes with a stone bowl of white rice. All entrees are served with four side dishes, including two kimchis.

At So Gong Dong, bibimbap also comes with ground beef or with squid, but other restaurants serve the dish topped with a raw or fried egg.

The Palisades Park ShopRite is the only supermarket I know with a big tropical-fish tank.